Wife 'big blob of blood' after attack

The husband of the 36-year-old woman who was mauled by eight pig dogs in the Waikato said she looked like a "big blob of blood" after the attack.

Mother-of-two Margit Christensen was set upon as she jogged along a rural road in Arapuni, 37km east of Te Awamutu, about 1pm yesterday.

Her husband, Sven Christensen, said a German friend was unicycling up ahead when she heard Mrs Christensen screaming as three dogs attacked her.

"She was screaming with three dogs on her, trying to kick them off when another five or so dogs came flying across and she fell to the ground." The friend alerted a neighbour to the attack and called Mr Christensen, who got to the scene before medical help arrived.

"By the time I got there the dogs were off ... Margit was basically just sitting, she looked like a big blob of blood on the side of the road," he said.

"Everyone could see how bad it was." Mr Christensen said he knew the owner of the dogs personally and that she had helped get the dogs off his wife.

"She kept wacking them with sticks and they kept trying to come back and come back, and then she managed get them off." He said he had heard neighbours saying children in the area were always scared of the dogs coming out.

"People have got to get a bit more brainy with their dogs ... no knowledge, no training, no boundaries and no discipline, you let dogs loose like that then they go back to their hunting mentality," he said.

Waikato Hospital's Dr John Bonning said today the woman had injuries all over her body, particularly to her arms, neck, back and legs.

"She was certainly one of the most seriously injured people that's been injured from dog bites I've ever seen," he said.

"It sounded like an absolutely horrific attack, I believe it went on for like 15 minutes." Dr Bonning said Mrs Christensen told him she curled up in the foetal position during the attack.

"I think that was a very good thing that she did ... when you do that you can protect the soft parts of the front of your body, your abdomen, your face and the front part of your neck." She spent nine hours in surgery overnight and was in a stable condition in a ward today, although she would have to undergo several more surgeries including skin grafts for her wounds.

Seven of the dogs involved in the attack have been put down, while animal officers were going back to get the eighth today.

Police are expected to interview the owner later today before making a decision on whether to lay criminal charges which could result in prison sentences of up to three years and or $20,000 fines.

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